Consumed
by Lunation
Summary: May's anxiousness is eating her alive and preventing her from being able to give her highest efforts in contests. On top of that, she is depended on by an iconic leader who has given his reliance to her. Will her friends be able to pinpoint the cause of her issue before it reaches her? DAML Contestshipping & Festivalshipping.


Hello, my lovely readers! Unlike my typical "happily themed" stories, I wanted to publish something different and new. I wrote this a while ago and forgot about it. I just spruced it up over the past few days, made some tweaks to it, and this is my final product. This one-shot isn't too peppy, so beware. I was inspired to write this after listening to the _Titanic Soundtrack_ (specifically "Death of Titanic"). Even though most of the story isn't too "Hakuna Matata", the ending is. I am extremely proud of writing this. Enjoy and don't forget to review!

* * *

One-shot : Consumed

* * *

Coordinators scurried through the massive hallways in search of friends and rivals, looking for familiar faces to leave with. Smiles were planted on many of the adults' faces and they joyfully met with their Pokemon after being healed from the brutal training. In preparation for the Grand Festival, many trainers decided to come together and form an advanced coaching course at the Slateport City "Hyper Rank" Contest hall. The day had finally came to a close and all of the participants for the afternoon practice were spewing out of the building's doors.

An eighteen year old quickly gathered up her personal items and sentimental good luck charms before leaving backstage. She roughly jammed her bandanna into her fanny pack and slid her hood over her head. After taking some time to calm down and allowing herself to breathe at a steadier pace, she pushed the nearest door open and began her slow descent down the walkway. A hand, however, came in contact with her back, startling her.

"Sugar plumb!" A flamboyant man who May knew like the back of her hand yelled, despite the fact that he was standing shoulder's width apart from her. "Are you going to join us for our post-contest coffee run? Sol and Drew are stopping by the bakery for some pastries. Care to come along?" He practically begged her with his peridot eyes. She let out a puff of air that she was unknowingly holding in and shook her head.

"I'm sorry Harley. I'm not in the mood today," she politely declined and patted his shoulder. He drew his green orbs to look at the ground and released a sigh.

"Alright, but you have to promise next week you'll join us."

"Okay," May answered. Her middle and pointer finger behind her back crossed as she showed him a grin. He returned the facial expression and pulled her in for a gentle hug. She halfheartedly wrapped her arms around the tall, lanky man. He swayed himself and May back and forth.

"Good, now I've gotta go! Don't want Miss Solidad to get angry with me again," he joked. May smiled as his figure retreated and with a wave of the hand, he had disappeared into one of the crowds of people. Her smile quickly retracted and she continued her trek around the carpet, glancing at the analog wall clock in panic.

"Hey! You!" a burly man, probably over six-foot, called from the opposite side of the waiting room. He wore a striped sailor shirt with dark khakis. To add to his intimidating look, a black-eyed Sharpedo squirmed by his side. It appeared to be larger than the standard shark and had oddly-colored scales. The Pokemon roughly clanked and grinded its teeth together, staring at May with hungry eyes.

May screamed in alarm, running away from him in hopes of escaping. "Shoot! Maxie said they would be here _tomorrow_, if not at all!" She flashed back to receiving news about Team Aqua trying to hunt down allies of their opposing side. Even though the Magmas and Aquas had once protected the Hoenn government peacefully, side-by-side, an argument had caused them to split and had conservative water trainers turn into furious monsters.

Luckily, before the attack was scheduled, Maxie of Team Magma was notified by one of his spies about their future plans. To alert others, he messaged certain people who had helped him to defeat the hated group in the past: Brendan Birch, Ash Ketchum, Lucas Kōki, and May herself, just to name a few.

As the day went by, May constantly worried about when the appearance of these horrid grunts would appear. Her focus was at its low and she wasn't able to concentrate on her appeals. After the awful session, she was still on high alert. She didn't expect them to arrive now, though.

She swung her arms, trying to gain speed so she could make it through the French door ahead. Another guard, however, slid past the opening and ruggedly slung a bag over her shoulders.

At that very second, darkness had consumed her senses.

* * *

"So is she coming?" both Drew and Solidad questioned their purple haired companion in wonder. The peach-haired woman gave her younger friend a look, clearly saying "_I want to mock you, but I'll save it for later_" after he asked about her. Solidad had been pestering him even more than usual about her in the past week. Harley sadly nodded his head side to side, signing that she wouldn't be accompanying them.

"She's been acting odd, hasn't she?" he jetted in. "I can't be the only one who's noticed it. Even her performance practicing today was off. Blaziken is always flawless and on key, but he looked like an oversized chicken running away from the slaughterhouse this morning."

Solidad slapped his forearm that rested against the booth table with a disapproving glare. Drew was quiet, still taking in what the older man had said about their fellow rival and close friend. She didn't bother to talk to any of the other coordinators during the day and stayed pretty distant from everyone, which put her out of character. In addition to that, May didn't eagerly head up to him to say "hello," nor to the top coordinating couple. After zoning out for several moments, the grass head piped into the small group's conversation.

"I think he's right, Solidad."

She looked up to see his eyes glaring into his latte cup. He continued to stir the liquid, intensely staring at the java swirling around in a clockwise circle. His angered eyes alternated between her's and Harley's.

"I mean, she _has_ been weird recently," he admitted. "Not like her usual happy-go-lucky and naïve self, but...it's strange. Like she's upset and hiding something. I don't know. I'm just trying to make an assumption."

Harley eerily grinned. "Well Drew, when you _assume_, you make an ass out of _u_ and _me_!" he laughed. Even though he was attempting to lift the woeful mood from their shoulders with a reference to an old show, he only earned two deadpanned expressions. "Okay. I can't stand this anymore. Let's finish up and then we'll go in search of our _bandanna_, got it?"

"Yeah. Hurry up guys," Drew commanded. Solidad gave him a once-over.

"Since when have you ever been willing to agree with Harley or so determined to check up on May? Do you have a fever?" She played by reaching her palm to his forehead.

He rolled his eyes and pushed her arm away from his face. "No, and before you ask, I don't have the slightest feelings towards her."

A smirk rose from her mouth. "I wasn't even going to ask a question relating towards you and her in a romantic way, so you just set yourself up for that. Good job, but don't you dare try to deny it. Your face is coated in a blush, by the way."

Before he had the chance to reply, a terror-stricken yelp pounced through the café walls. Running in was a short girl, no older than sixteen, clothed in a Team Magma cropped cloak with matching Eskimo boots and arm shields. She had fresh scars running down her left cheek. Tears were spewing out of her eyes as she held her arms around her tremoring body in a firm grasp. Two shopkeepers skidded over to the terrified and injured girl.

"S-she. S-she's hurt. We need help. Please. Please! They hurt her!" she pleaded and started to hysterically cry. The pink haired girl dropped her small figure onto the ground, clenching her Poke Ball tightly. At that moment, Drew and Harley left Solidad at their table to investigate.

"Who? Who is she?" Harley softly asked. With the café workers by his and Drew's side, he gave her a sympathetic gander.

"Aqua hurt her," she began, only slightly stuttering at that point. "They attacked her with their teams. I hid her, but the bleeding won't stop. I don't know what to do. I bandaged her up and she kept telling me everything will be okay, but I know it won't. She saved me. I can't do this. I don't know what to do."

"Listen to me," Drew interrupted. He held his hand out to the shuddering teenager, along with Harley. "It _will_ be okay. Just bring us to her."

* * *

"Is it safe to be out here?" Harley asked quietly, holding his hat close to his chest. His teeth could be heard chattering due to the serene silence. Drew snorted, mumbling "wimp" under his breath. The Magma grunt dressed in all red and black gave the worried man a side glance with her peripheral vision.

"Don't worry, the rest of my team that _wasn't_ beat was able to hoard the Aquas out of the contest hall. They must have travelled up from Lilycove over night. But yeah, it's completely safe. There are guards at all of the doors now. They're really good, too," she reassured the two. Harley reluctantly nodded, still confused of why Team Aqua had ventured from the other side of the region. He decided to keep quiet and just let the young member discuss little snippets to them about her team.

Drew kept his distance from them, still stressing about his despondent and missing-in-action friend.

He couldn't help but re-imagine the conversation that he previously had with her about planning to train on the beach of Stateport, where they had first met eight year ago. May's general obliviousness to her surroundings initially pissed him off and forced him to scurry after her like a lost puppy. He would waste no time to throw an insult her way and then follow through with a rose tossed into the air. Getting May her favorite flower was the perfect was to quiet the brunette, even on the worst occasions.

Her third Grand Festival, which didn't run so smoothly, dissapointed her to no extent. She turned into a puddle of water after her extremely close loss to Erica and her worn out mentality immensely showed to the crowd. It was a good thing he had suggested to Harley to pick up an "emergency" bouquet in case something like that was to happen.

"Drew, we're here. Look around for the person that our little friend saved," Harley squawked, wrapping his spare arm around the shy grunt and snapping the emerald-eyed coordinator out of his daydream.

Insidr of the arena, leaders marched around the stadium staircases with their Pokémon close by. A grunt waved to the one who was assisting Drew and Harley, running up to her and asking if everything was alright. A tint of scarlet dusted her cheeks, but she quickly shooed him away so she could direct the men back to the intended location. She motioned her head towards the storage closet.

"In there. I'll go first." She cautiously jiggled the handle, feeling horror-struck by the fear of not getting a response. "Miss? Are you still in there? Hello?"

Silence passed by for a few seconds, though a soft groan was heard. Their eyes all widened. The frightened girl, who Harley had discovered was named Amber (after eavesdropping into her previous conversation with her "friend"), slithered her way through the opening creek and flicked the light switch on. After giving the all-is-clear call to the men, they promptly followed her inside.

The walls of the petite chiffonier were in need of a good re-paint, since the paper looked very worn out and torn. As for the floor, blood stains, probably from the confined and injured woman who was saved, thickly covered the white tiles. The men carefully avoided the grime as they made their way to the back of the closet, coming into direct contact with the Magma girl's back. She arched her back.

She frowned, forehead wrinkling. "She's very tired...weak too. Do you still want to see her? If not, I'll just bring her to the infirmary we set up in a tent outside."

"Well we don't want a stranger to die, do we?" Harley responded with an arch of his brow.

"Last time I checked, I wasn't a stranger to you," a tiny voice pointed out. Drew anxiously but delicately pushed his way past the two and knelt down to pull the person he had easily recognized into his arms.

"Arceus, what the hell did they do to you?" he managed to ask. His speech slightly cracked as he looked at the brunette's harmed body.

"May?" Harley gasped, joining Drew on the cold floor. The grunt gave a soft smile before turning on her heel to leave, providing them with space to reunite with their friend.

"Wait!" May cried. She sat up, blood becoming more evident to the onlookers against her neck, chest, and arms due to the better lighting. Her eyes appeared to be exhausted and moist from crying. Before closing the door shut, the girl slowly shifted around. "T-thank you, Amber. Thank you so much."

"You're welcome, Miss. And...thank you for talking to me. I really appreciated it," she revealed, which confused both Drew and Harley.

During the surprise attack on May, Amber was scanning through the halls in search of Aqua members. Greatfully, she was able to find May before they were able to cause detrimental damage to her and tugged her into the nearby closet. To make the scenario less awkward, May chose to spark conversation and gave helpful "female advice" to the young girl.

They shared a look of delight and waved. Following the creek of the door clasp, May was bombarded with questions from Harley.

Drew hushed him with a finger, keeping May in a secure embrace as he nuzzled the side of her face. "One at a time, Harley. The air head can't handle more than that, even when she is _feeling_ well," he said arrogantly, getting a pout from May. He childishly tapped her nose and leaned closer to her.

Even though they _were_ in fact rivals, they had opened up to each other over the many years of knowing one another. It wasn't a big shock to see them together at a restaurant or on the streets for a walk, but wrapped up in each other's arms? That was an occasional and rare sight for some bystander to see. It sure wouldn't go innoticed by the press if they were noticed in public like that.

Drew was never the type to let others into his personal life. He was even _known_ for giving incredibly vague answers during _Coordinator's Weekly_ interviews, along with many other gossip and news industries. But, after meeting the clumsy girl at the Slateport beach one evening, his barrier began to slowly shed away; deteriorating as he evolved from good, to better, to best friends with the frisbee-throwing Princess of Hoenn.

Harley observed the two, who happened to be having some small talk in the warmth of each other's body heat. May comfortably snuggled into his side, making Drew's lips tug upward into a tiny smile. He gently readjusted her so she could lay in his lap, but by the time he could do that, Officer Jenny barged into the closet with a flashlight.

"Dear Mew, is everything alright in here? Harley, is that you? Is everyone safe?" she questioned, waving her hand to the grunts behind her who were told about the injured girl in hiding via Amber. The policewoman looked down to see May in her poor state of health. If anything, she looked to be more like herself than an hour ago, but still remained seriously hurt. "Dear Lugia! Do you both think you can lug her over to the medical bed? It's only a short distance."

They nodded, having no problem lifting her up. "I'll act as the bodyguard. If anyone gets in our way, I'll slap them silly," Harley snapped and grabbed May's legs, swinging them over Drew's arm that held her. Officer Jenny giggled at seeing her being carried bridal style to the counter. Justwatching the way that the coordinators looked at each other could tell you something about them.

"Miss Maple, what was your first reaction to seeing an Aq-"

"NO!" Harley hissed and slapped the approaching news reporter in the face, launching him backwards. Drew bit his lip and stared in surprise at his friend's action. The camera crew gasped, chuckled, and helped their lead host off of the floor. Instead of saying a proper apology, Harley stuck his nose in the air, followed by a snort, and tip-toed along. May gave Drew a puzzled look, so he replied by telling her to imagine that it never happened.

The three made their way out the doors and went over onto the grass to meet the other patients in need of a doctor. Luckily, no one they had known was injured besides May. She and Drew walked over to the mass gathering of fold-out chairs.

"...Miss...Maple?" a woman behind the tent questioned with hesitance in her voice. It only took about five minutes of waiting for the assistant to call May's name. She waddled around the complex, peeking her head from behind the plastic cover. Drew rested his cheek against the brunette hair of May's head, not willing to release the cozy grip he had on her. The nurse noticed this and gave him an icy glare until he freed her. "I'm Agatha. We'll have her back in just a moment. No need to worry!"

May let out a minuscule laugh, thinking about her friend that she had met through her first traveling partner, but was quickly silenced as she felt a burning sensation in her abdomen. She, with the help of a nurse, picked herself up and limped into the red tent. Eyes followed her every movement as other coordinators, medics, and fans sadly watched the inspiring young woman trudge along. Unknowingly to them, she was able to figure out that they were observing her, thus producing a sulky frown on her mouth. She suddenly felt self-conscious as she cumbrously hobbled towards a temporary table.

"Just sit right up on the table, hon," the gray-haired woman smiled. Her thick locks were sloppily tied up in a bun and she wore thick glasses frames. May seemed to fall into a trance as she stared distractedly into her violet eyes.

"Oh, yes. Sorry," she apologized, nodding her head and slowly stepping onto the stool. May hissed in anguish as she laid back on the bed, feeling as if knifes were slowly sinking into her back the further she went. The nurse noticed this, turning around in apprehensiveness. She called for the head doctor and reached his attention.

"Maybelle Maple is your name, Miss?" he asked without looking up to make eye contact. She hummed. "I don't really think I need you to explain your symptoms. A Magma girl...Amber, was it? She ran into my office about a half an hour ago and notified me about you heading up to see me. How is the bleeding?"

May shrugged. "I'm not sure. I still feel uncomfortable, but I don't know if it's stopped yet."

He gave her a smile and slowly lifted up her t-shirt to her ribcage. He exhaled deeply. May waited for a moment or two, only expecting to hear that she had some minor cuts and bruises. What she didn't expect was the reality of the damage.

The doctor had explained how the Sharpedo that had used a Crunch attack had came dangerously close to her heart and breaking her chest bones. Even though neither of those occurred, her stomach, back, and arms had deep wounds that needed stitching to help it to fully heal and she couldn't risk injuring herself further, so she would not be allowed into this year's Grand Festival.

The brunette let out a shaky breath. She urgently shook her head so the guests in the tent couldn't see her cloudy eyes and an "alright" left her lips. "I-I'll...do you want the procedure to be now?"

They both nodded, pursing their lips.

"Here sweetie," the nurse whispered, reaching under the bed to pick up a white gown. "Just change into this and we'll begin now. I'll go tell your friends and Dr. Nelson will start in a few minutes. You'll be under amnesia for a bit, so don't worry."

She was very tempted to spit out, "_how could I _not_ be worried?_" Instead, May picked up the garment and began to change as the doctor closed the zipper of the door.

"It's okay, darling. Your doctor has dealt with similar accidents, so he'll patch you up in a few hours. I'll be your nurse for the next few weeks," the caring lady stated, helping the girl put her arms into the sleeves of the cloth dress. May gasped.

"_Weeks?_ _Arceus_, what? I'm going to be so out of practice! I..." The brunette couldn't finish her words due to a sob that crawled up her throat. A tear made its way out of her eye, but was hastily swatted away by her hand. Her nurse came up to her side and softly grazed her arm.

"May, I'm sorry. You have to stay out. If you weren't so beat up, we would let you out in a week or so...but that's not the case, unfortunately. Just stick it through and remember that your friends, family, and even _I_ will be here for you. I'll be right back to grab some reports and talk to your coordinator friends about this."

May sniffled against her hand. "Thank you, Agatha."

The experienced nurse gave the girl a light squeeze around her shoulders with a sigh and went to leave the room. She felt guilty for having to reject the hopeful girl's schedule for the next few weeks, well, _months_. Instead of seeing her more upset than she already was, Agatha chose to leave and let her cope with the current dilemma of her surgery. She leaned over to glance out of the window, seeing no one waiting in the transient "waiting room", that only consisted of plastic seats and a tiny circular table, except for three people.

Harley, now joined by Solidad, sat outside and curiously watched their beloved grass-headed pace around. He impatiently sighed every other minute and rested his arms below the back of his neck. He was conspicuously discontented with having to wait for such a long time. As the nurse returned back to the exterior entrance, they looked at her expectantly.

"She's not in great condition. I'd suggest all of you to go home and rest for the night, since she won't be available to see anyone for the next day," she gulped. Harley tilted his dead to the side in confusion.

"Why? Why not? What's wrong?" Drew tried to speculate.

The elder woman simply looked at him with a low shake of her head. "Her cuts are very deep. _Surprisingly_ deep, in fact. She's lucky to be _alive_..."

The group waiting for May's release looked traumatized, to say the least. Solidad tried to speak, but only stammered out incomprehensible phrases. Harley didn't even bother to talk, nor did Drew. They were all out of character as they mentally absorbed the announcement.

"The festival's in three months, will she be able to-"

"No. I'm sorry. If we continue to make progress, she might be ready for the next years one," the nurse tried to say with a supportive and warm tone. Solidad stared at her with gaping eyes,

"So she's out for the entire year," she stated, rather than asking.

Agatha nodded. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, hey, hey," Harley piped up. "It's not your fault." He pulled Drew closer to him so he could toss an arm around his shoulder, then Solidad's. "You've got some tough cookies right here. We'll be here with her the entire walk of this. Even though we were _all_ suppose to leave tomorrow, we can make this work. I promise."

* * *

Clutters of paper swayed to the floor, imitating leaves on their descent down. Envelopes were tossed and thrown around the large hospital room and a specific brunette was throwing a tantrum as she searched urgently for an addressed letter in her mail.

Harley, Solidad, and Drew were all in Ever Grande City for the Grand Festival tournament held in the massive colosseum. They literally left right after learning about May's diagnostics. Their goodbye took a while, involving having to pry Harley out of the emergency room and be carried off by security guards. Drew and Solidad were more calmed down the following day. Their last visit was heart wrenching because they were all unable to actually see or hug her, thanks to the gorgeous curtain separating them from one another. They had also promised on the final day to write May every week, having their letters arrive on Fridays. Now where oh where could that letter _be_?

"Hey, Agatha? Have you seen any notes from them in my mail pile? I've been searching for the past hour and I can't find it!" May moaned, still scavenging through the piles of fan mail. She tossed, pivoted, and turned her limps in random directions.

Her mobility was now doing drastically better and she could shower, get dressed, and walk down stairs by herself. Physical therapy was really paying off, despite her initial hate of the daily activity.

Once she was relocated to a hospital in Petalburg for her convenience of being closer to home, she was sent to the "hell room", as many patients called it. Trying to do the simplest activities such as reading a book was one of May's tiresome duties she had to attempt to accomplish during her first week in the recovery wing. Max was with her every day after school and he always mocked and pointed out her flaws as she went through each session. Though it was tough to oversee her problems, her companions were there to support her in words, phrases, and telephone calls.

May remembered the pang in her heart she had felt the other day when she realized that the three coordinators she spent her entire career with were only hours away from their festival contest. Even after Drew was able to take home the trophy for his hometown of LaRousse, she felt sick to her stomach. No, not because she was jealous of their abilities to enter, but that she couldn't be there to cheer them knew they didn't need moral support like she was accustomed to getting from others, but May would have liked to see them in person for Drew's momentous achievement.

Hearing no response from the question she had asked minutes ago, May continued to look decisively for her piece of paper. Deck after deck, more cards slumped off of her bed.

"I'm never going to find it, am I?" she groaned to herself, lazily throwing herself onto the plush pillows that were placed behind her to support her head.

"Nope, because there wasn't one that we wrote this week."

"What are you talk-Drew!" May shot up, staring at the smug boy's face with a toothy grin. She thrust the leftover boxes on her bed to the hardwood floor and bolted towards him. May jumped as she was only a few feet away from him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and straddled him with her legs. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, just visiting the gym. I figured that since I'm now an elite and Top Coordinator, I should start branching out into new things like battling and earning badges," he said with sarcasm and a firmly planted smirk.

May gave him a mock gasp. "Really? I better warn my dad that he has some tough competition ahead."

He rolled his eyes, but nevertheless smiled. "I missed you, ditz."

Ignoring the insult slash petname, May placed her forehead against his and closed her sapphire eyes in slow motion.

"May!" Harley and Solidad crazily slammed the door open, joining the hug.

May squeaked in shock and released her grip on Drew, turning her body around. "Ugh, I've missed you guys!"

"You look _fabulous_, even though you have a leg cast and your arms have some faint scars and-"

"Harley," Solidad hissed, "If you say one more insensitive comment, I will kick you out of the window."

May could easily notice how neither of their personalities had changed over the short period of time she hadn't seen them. If anything, the only differences were that Harley's luscious hair was now shaved into a professional buzz-cut and Solidad had grew out her bangs.

May silently invited them to take a seat as she sauntered over to the sink and swallowed her daily intake of medical pills. She grimaced as she heard the sound of her brother's voice down the hall, probably discussing something with her doctor or talking to a Professor Birch, since there were three living in Littleroot Town after all.

"Max, go away," she groaned and tossed a pillow out the door. A chuckle entered.

"Now why would I do that when I could talk to these lovely people," the navy-haired teen gestured to her guests in her room, "sister dear? Welcome back, guys. _May_ here wouldn't stop complaining about how much she missed you and was more moody than she's ever been."

"Aw, my poor baby cripple," Harley sighed. May huffed in return.

"Oh, as if. I have been doing just fine!" she retorted. Though, as if Arceus was trying to spite her, her leg resting on the metal armrest slipped. She slammed her knees and elbows onto the floor, rolling on her side in pain.

"Karma," Max chimed in with a smirk. He sneezed and quickly slid the frames of his glasses up the bridge of his nose in habit.

"May!" Two similar voices rang through the hall. From the door frame appeared the frazzled Birch twins wearing matching coats. It was no surprise to see them here, since Ruby, Brendan, and their father often gave her company on their breaks from the lab. May perked up at the additional friends visiting.

"Hey guys, meet my traveling partners," she introduced.

Brendan friendly nodded and took off his hat. "Are you comfy down there?" he asked, confused why she was on the floor. She tossed her hand in his direction.

"May and friends, I um...don't mean to sound rude or upfront, but we came here for important matters. It's just a quick piece of information that I think you'd be interested in, Sapphire," said the red-eyed man. He frantically tapped his foot. May blew her tongue at hearing her old nickname being used to address her, but let it roll off her shoulders.

"Go on," she persisted.

"Maxie just video called us from our house and _somebody_ was sentenced to confined jail time this morning."

May gasped and covered her mouth. She muttered a low "no" in disbelief. After recovering from shock, she bounced from the ground and pulled the twins into a group hug. "Oh my Lugia! Finally, I can sleep tonight! How did they find him?"

"So," Brendan began, trailing into detail about how Hoenn teamed up with the famous Sinnoh's Galactic group and pinpointed his location to be in a cave near Sootopolis City. Following their identifying step, the grunts surrounded the barren area and easily attacked Archie. A ton of weight being pressured on May was released.

"That's great," Solidad commented, earning a nod from all of the guests. "Hopefully things can start turning around from now on."

May bowed her head. The raven heads, however, gave her an odd smile. She was accustomed to knowing that this face meant something was up, so she perked a brow.

"We weren't finished. Besides that, Dr. Nelson mentioned that you can start competing next week."

"I _can_?" May questioned loudly.

"And, our lover boy here is getting married," snickered Ruby.

"You _are_? Arceus, yes!" The brunette pranced around on her tip toes. She would talk to Ruby about his brother's relationship and he would always guesstimate the time he would make the big move. His guess though was quite off by a few years. "Why didn't you or Lyra tell me? What great friends _you_ are!"

"Hey, no sulking Maple. You can leave this dump as soon as you want! I'll make sure to force Lyra to be the maid of honor, too. Smile!" Brendan laughed.

"_Well_," Harley dramatically drew out the word out with his hands, "there's a contest the three of us were heading to next week. It's in Mossdeep City. Care to join?"

"Of course I will!" May answered, perfectly articulating each word precisely.

Drew's lip arched upward. "You've got a lot of catching up to do, airhead. You haven't been up and at it for months, so we're going to drill you through a little bit of "Harley Boot Camp" when we get there."

May glanced up at him and practically begged with her eyes to repudiate the idea. Of course, seeing her defeated look only prevailed him to make sure she went through it.

"No, Drew. Please don't. Please."

"Begging won't get you anywhere, May. You know that."

She began to think about the torturous things the Cacturne man had in store for her. Last year, he persuaded May to jump off a "little hill" near a city they were passing through. To simply say, the hill was better categorized as a cliff and was about two-hundred feet tall. Packing one pair of clothes was the worst decision she had made all day.

"Please please please please plea-" A hand tackled her mouth and collided with her face.

"If you stay quiet, I'll think about it," he deadpanned. She tapped her thighs as she sat beside him on the couch, waiting and waiting for him to say something.

"Drew? You there?" she said in a small voice and leaned towards him. The Birch brothers lightly laughed.

"Hm?" he asked, followed by a shrug. His hooded jacked developed wrinkles with his movement. "I was just content with hearing nothing I forgot what we were talking about."

A slowly moving growl laddered its way out of May's mouth and she glared at her rival. "You're evil."

"You're gullible."

"You're an ass!"

"Thanks May, I love you too," he cackled and added a bitter smile. The girl couldn't help but feel a little excited at hearing him say that, even though it was directed to be a joke.

"U-um, so I'm going to change. We can go out eat, my treat. I have a lot of catching up to do with these guys," May announced, pointing to her friends. The twins understood and wrapped up their visit.

"We have tons to do at work. Dad has a handful of new trainers who requested new starters this afternoon. You better behave, May May," Ruby joked as he waved goodbye.

"I will," she barked. "I swear, they're more like two overly protective brothers nowadays rather than being my best friends."

"Well, knowing you, you need all the supervising you can possibly get," Drew smartly grunted. Without any warning, May pounced onto his back and grabbed onto his broad shoulders. She looked between the three friends of hers and produced a genuine smile.

"If I have you all with me, there's really nothing to worry about."

* * *

I can honestly say that I have never been more proud of any one-shot nor story that I've previously written. Six thousand plus words? Yay! I have been wanting to write this for a while, so I hope everyone liked it! I started to actually work on this about four days ago (the same time I wrote the author note on the top of the story). Unfortunately, I just found out today that I either have spine or brain damage. I'm terrified. Wish my luck, kiddos! Haha. Please review, favorite, and/or follow. I really appreciate the support. xx


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